Former Salinas construction company controller charged with stealing over $8 million from employer.

Monique Marie Dodson, the former controller of a Salinas construction company, was charged on Aug. 14 with six counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering in connection with the alleged theft of more than $8 million from her employer.

According to court documents, Dodson, 42, who resides in Monterey County, was the controller of a civil contracting construction company headquartered in Salinas. Starting around Oct. 2021 until Nov. 2023, Dodson allegedly conducted approximately 136 unauthorized wire transfers from the company’s business account to her personal bank accounts that she falsely characterized as payments for materials for the company.

The company, which is named “Company A” in court documents, built highways and other concrete structures, installed septic systems, handled industrial waste and operated rock quarries.

According to Dodson's Linkedin profile, she worked for The Don Chapin Company from December 2019 to December 2023. 

In a period of nearly two years, Dodson transferred increasingly large sums of money. In October 2021, Dodson conducted two unauthorized wire transfers totaling approximately $50,000 to personal accounts. The following year the wire transfers rose to over $2 million, and in 2023 alone, nearly $6.5 million was transferred to her accounts over the span of 11 months. On multiple occasions, Dodson intercepted paper bank statements mailed by Santa Cruz County Bank to the company. Dodson would also modify digital bank statements by removing her name from wire transfer descriptions to hide that she was the beneficiary of the wire transfers.

Dodson used the money to purchase a 2023 Suzuki GSXR motorcycle for $15,553.19, according to court documents.

Dodson is scheduled to appear in federal district court in San Jose on Aug. 19, 2025, for an initial appearance and arraignment before a United States District Judge. If convicted, Dodson faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each count of wire fraud, and 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for the count of money laundering.